Monthly Archives: October 2012

Jakob Nielsen, author of the blog Alertbox.

Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman group, after being an engineer at Sun Microsystems. He holds a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction, something I have never heard of before. He writes a blogon web usability, which is what I will be highlighting today.

While reading the post How Users Read on the Web, I was astounded at the fact that 79% of users don’t read webpages- they just scan. My first thought was: I’m currently on a webpage, AND I’M READING EVERYTHING! So, I looked back and thought about whether this is true for all webpages, and I figured it was most likely not. For some reason, I chose to actually read this webpage, instead of scan. Why? Maybe because it was for a graded assignment, maybe it was the fact that it was a short read.

The post E-Mail Newsletters: Increasing Usabilty very much intrigued me, because as part of my job this summer, I had to “revamp” the Ruff Rider Newsletters, as they had previously only been in plain text e-mail format. (Here is an example of the new e-mail newsletter I helped create!)

E-mail newsletters have become an important part of increasing website views, as they draw in more people, and have the ability to reach a large number of individuals with the click of a button. This post highlights the importance of having a recognizable sender and a clear, concise, yet
intriguing subject line. Social networking has also come to compete with informing individuals, but newsletters remain on top- as they provide more information. Mobile availability is also important with the increasing use of smart phones for email and other content. Having the e-mail be viewable on mobile devices, and the webpage compatible for mobile use is extremely important in this day and age.

A good example of a good newsletter is the one I mentioned above (not to brag…). This newsletter meets all the above standards, but its design features are most notable for drawing the reader’s attention. The use of color, images, and different heading and sub-headings help the reader follow the page, and selectively choose what to read.

A poor example of a newsletter is the old Ruff Rider e-mail newsletter.

This plain-text format is not aesthetically pleasing like the previously mentioned newsletter. Simply looking at it is not interesting, and is probably not read by any. Actually, it may not be opened at all, as the sender of the e-mail is from a personal account, not the group that it is supposed to be from, unlike the new and improved e-mail format.

Although newsletters may be overlooked in today’s society as e-mails are increasing and inboxes are more cluttered than ever, these are still an important tool for notifying interested individuals on changes, offers, etc. that a company deems important for public knowledge. Therefore, it is important to understand how to utilize newsletters and to efficiently share information to increase viewership.

Jane McGonigal is a game designer, and is very active in and passionate about the benefits of “gaming”. That being said, I have hard time reading what she says in the excerpt Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World about gaming being so beneficial for individuals as an escape from reality and a true form of expression.

I have little to no interest in the gaming culture at all, and therefore it is hard for me to believe that individuals are choosing virtual reality over their real life. I have brothers that love playing video games. but they do so as a break from reality, not an exodus.  I believe there is a small sub culture of “hardcore” gamers who devote almost their entire lives to said video games. I think that for all others games can be a fun time-killer, but social interaction with others, face-to-face, is necessary and more important.

I find it interesting that McGonigal believes that entire lives being led on the internet is a good thing. If culture continues to evolve in this way, how sad would it be when our offspring don’t know how to interact socially with each other when physically together?

Danah Boyd, a social media researcher, presents an interesting and possibly controversial subject in the excerpt White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with Myspace and Facebook. This excerpt explores the ethnic, racial, and class-based implications on social media network choice.

This text is personally relevant to me, as I was initiated into social networking via Myspace, and made the switch over to Facebook. When I was in middle school, the majority of my peers had Myspace account. Despite my parents requests, I made an account and became active on the sight. In October of 2005, I made the switch to Facebook as I was invited via email by one of my peers. I was told it was exclusive, that only college students were on the site until now. This exclusivity intrigued me, and I longed for an invitation. Boyd says that Facebook didn’t open up to high school students until September of 2005, thus making my classmates and I very early users. I come from a wealthy and educated town, and this is also implied in Boyd’s text about the majority of Facebook users.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Although my classmates had all been on Myspace as well, once Facebook became available, it became passé to be a Myspace user. This goes along with Boyd’s idea that teens choose to go where their friends go. Why would someone be apart of a social media network where they can’t interact with their friends? The teenage years were already a struggle before the dawn of social media. Now there are so many more ways an individual can feel rejected and lonely.

Though I do believe there are obvious racial and ethnic differences when it comes to network preference, I think a more important predictor is education and class. I consider my network of friends to be diverse when it comes to race and ethnicity, but we are all of similar social class and education level, and are all coincidentally Facebook users.

I think this is an important topic to discuss, as there are definite societal barriers put in place on individuals when they are logging in to social network sites, but we should think about the future of social networking as a whole- Will facebook still dominate in ten years? What about the millions of users on Twitter? We cannot account for new sites emerging and how tastes may change in the future.